The Moment...

One of the things that happens every spring is Opening Day, as a friend says, "Baseball is inevitable."

Spring Training camps have broken. Teams are heading to their final destination for Opening Day.

The home team, in my case, The Detroit Tigers, will send out their ace to the mound. He stands on the mound as a lone sentinel facing the opponent with nothing but a ball and glove. 60 feet 6 inches his opponent stands armed with a maple or ash bat.

50,000 people come to a momentary hush...

PLAY BALL!

A deep breath.

A wind up.

And...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLWYeMzWqhg

 

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The Problem With Grace

"You know what your problem is..."

This is apparently something that I have often said. Although most people can't tell me when I have uttered such a phrase, it must come out in my tone or body language. I know that it runs through my head. For some reason I see problems and like telling people what their problem is. It has to be the "older brother" in me. I suppose it's just one of those things that big brothers do, they see the potential problems that are facing those around us and we want to stop it. I wish I could say that it was always because I wanted to help people. It's often times because I want to be right.

When I first began to understand grace I realized that it was bereft of problems. There are so many ways to abuse grace. Chief among them, license. Within the radical grace of God there is so much freedom that people like me are afraid. We are afraid that people will just get their "fire insurance" and then live however they want to live. We are afraid that they won't try and be good. We are afraid that they will abuse grace and slide into license.

It's funny though, we don't see Jesus worrying about that. We don't see Paul worrying about that. We see them concerned about big brothers who want to limit grace. Big brothers who want to make sure that people will follow the rules.

Grace opens the door to people,who are not like us, to enter into relationship with the God of the universe. God's grace is extended to people who despise him.

Can we extend grace to the people we despise?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg_j7n4BcVA

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So Do I Just Not Speak?

In a previous post I wrote about the false sense of persecution that many Christians seem to have. I received a nice little nudge for clarity from a friend of mine over on Google+, check out our conversation:

I really appreciate Jeremy's question. As I mentioned to him, I don't want to be throwing any babies out with the bathwater. So how do we as Christians respond to things that we disagree with in the public sphere? Do we simply sit on our hands? Do we balance every negative thing we say with something positive? What should our engagement look like?

Not very long ago, it was my practice to press against every single error that I saw in the world. I felt as though I needed to speak out against all things anti-Christian. I am sure to many of my friends and family member I was insufferable.

Then something changed; I realized that I was making lots of noise.  While important, I was arguing hard against issues not as important as other things. It was during a time I was studying the book of Colossians in depth God began opening my eyes to some of these areas in my life.

Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

-- The Apostle Paul   Colossians 3:1-3

I read this passage, and read this passage, and read this passage again. I was struck by the simplicity and clarity of what Paul was trying to get at. He wants our very identities to be transformed so we would get our heads and hearts set on things that matter most.

Through my time with Colossians, my heart was changed. Trying to change someone else's errors was not what I wad convicted to focus on. It became clear the primary thing God was calling me to do was to positively state the beauty and truth of Jesus.

This means there will be times when we, as followers of Jesus, must necessarily make a stand against evil and injustice. Jesus stood up against such things and challenged the status quo of his time. Paul pressed against issues of injustice in his letter to Philemon. The gospel, by its very nature, puts us into conflict with injustice, hatred, and evil. It is itself offensive. We don't need to help it.

So do I just not speak? By no means!  Let's just be judicious in the things that we speak against. Let's be wise in the way we act toward non-Christians; let's not play the victim card. We are not victims. Let's focus on the things that are above.

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Persecution! Really!?

Everyday I open my social media news feeds and it seems that there is a new perceived persecution of Christians in America. The American Christian is apparently under heavy attack, our very way of life is being threatened on all fronts.

Except where it really matters.

Just about everyday I open my Bible in public to read and study. Every week we gather openly in my home for worship and community. We even post it on Facebook and Twitter. We take pictures and celebrate the beautiful things that God is at work doing in our midst.

We keep using the word "persecution" but I don't think it means what we think it means.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhXjcZdk5QQ

This Sunday I had the briefest of interactions with someone who is heading to a country that is hostile to Christianity. This person cannot create a Facebook page about their ministry. This person cannot talk about the call of God on their life in specifics on social media. Their email has to be secured.

My wife works with our denomination's world mission organization. Before she can send out financial reports to some missionaries she has to scour the spreadsheets to make sure that there is no sign of "christian language" on them. Why? Because every attachment is read in these countries and if these missionaries are found out it could be deadly.

If you are checked into the world at large you know about countries where Christian pastors are being imprisoned and killed (North Korea, Nigeria, Kenya...). The persecution of Christians in these places is real, violent, and ongoing.

Yet, we in the United States cry persecution because a law we don't like gets passed. We cry persecution when a president we don't like gets elected. We cry out, "persecution" when celebrities do something "ungodly".

We need to reorient ourselves to what persecution is. It's when one's faith is being eradicated by direct oppression. We simply are not experiencing that in the United States. What we are experiencing in the US is simply multi-culturalism. Our relative mono-culture is becoming more and more diverse. We are not being persecuted. Our worldview is being challenged. We are misunderstood in the public square, but we are not being persecuted.

Since the inception of the culture war in the 1980s,Christians have in large part been stating what they are against. This has led us into a posture of conflict. We must change the conversation and narrative. We must begin to speak and write about what we are "for". As we do, the beauty and truth of the gospel will ring forth. Will it be met with cheering crowds? Probably not. However, there is a better chance of being heard if we will change our tone from one of conflict to that of grace.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. -- 1 Peter 2:11, 12

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The Beauty of the Skies

I arose this morning to see the sun in the sky lighting the world with fresh beauty. Immediately my heart was filled with hope, joy, and awe. These words were exploding in my mind,

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

-- Psalm 19 (ESV)

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The Power of the Person of Peace

When I was a missionary with Cru, we were trying to launch movements everywhere. I had a really bad attitude about it. I was very comfortable as a missionary to Illinois State University. Then our leadership mandated a scope change to all of Central Illinois.

I wasn't buying it.

I didn't buy that there was any way that we could be effective as campus missionaries running all over the state of Illinois spending a few hours here and a few hours there focusing on raising up a "person of peace". It didn't seem realistic.

I was right. 

I was right; what we were trying to accomplish wasn't going to work. We weren't going to be able to accomplish the task set out for us because we had a proximity problem.  However, this wasn't the problem I had anticipated.  I thought the "person of peace" concept was silly and didn't make good strategic sense. But our real problem was the distance and the lack of connection to the universities we were seeking to reach.

I was wrong. 

The person of peace concept is legit.  You need a person of peace who will help you network and connect with people in your community. You need a person of peace to help ground and give you insight about the people you are seeking to love and point to Jesus. This person of peace is someone you aren't going to find by helicoptering in and out of a place. You will find them as you begin to be present in your community; they are a person living in the trenches.

We have discovered a person of peace in Ypsilanti and as a result we are seeing a movement begin to roll. The movement is rolling in a pub and not in a church. But it's on the verge of getting messy and wild. It's beautiful!

There are evenings at Doubt on Tap that I leave and have to pinch myself, I can't believe it's actually happening. I can't believe these people are becoming a community. I can't believe people are talking about things that matter every week and like doing it!

Do you want to launch a movement? Then you need a person of peace.

Putting out from the harbor at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.

On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart-and she believed!

After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, "If you’re confident that I’m in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests." We hesitated, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. -- Acts 16:11-15

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Father UP!

Last week's Parenthood was filled with amazing stuff to think about. On the one hand there were religious issues that were fascinating and on the other we saw something we rarely see in pop culture, a father grabbing his role with authority.

Zeek Braverman is a man's man. He is a Viet Nam Vet, works on cars, gets his hands dirty, and loves sports. He's rough around the edges and a bit cranky. He is fully flawed. He is broken, especially as he traverses his relationship with his wife, Camille. Yet, he's constantly growing, changing, and maturing as a man. As we watch this family evolve we are starting to see Zeek acquiesce to his oldest son, Adam more and more. Adam is slowly taking the lead as family patriarch, and Zeek lets him. It's quite a beautiful thing to behold, and shockingly well written.

There are times though when Zeek pulls back on the rope and steps in as only a Dad can do. In this week's episode Zeek grabs the role as patriarch and steps into the spotlight in the way only he can do. Julia's (his daughter) marriage is falling apart. So Zeek finds Joel (her husband) and confronts him. He reminds him that he has entrusted Julia to Joel because he believed that Joel was a man worthy of Julia.

These are words that only a father can speak to the heart of another man.

Men need fathers. It is reality. We need fathers and we need them to speak into our very souls. We need brothers too, but we need fathers most of all. Zeek, in that moment, by taking hold of his identity and role of father spoke words of life to Joel that he needed to hear. He needed to hear from a father that he was a man and he was a man that was worthy of the woman to whom he was married. Joel needed the clarity of identity that only a father could bring him.

Zeek: Well, let me ask you something. What the hell are you doing?
Joel: What the hell am I doing? Well, I'm trying to figure things out, you know? Figuring things out.

We men have a lot to learn from Zeek. We need to learn to protect our daughters. We need to learn to fight for them. We also need to learn that we need to speak into the hearts of our sons words of identity and truth.

In that moment when the world is falling apart some times we need a father to look at us and say, "What the hell are you doing?"

 

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Get That Baby Saved

Thursday night's in the Rose household are for Parenthood. There are few shows on TV where there are consequences to actions. There are fewer still that balance humor and drama in such an effective way. Even fewer still are the programs where there are strong men who love well.

This past week there was controversy surrounding the newest Braverman baby getting baptized. Crosby's mother-in-law was demanding that her granddaughter get baptized to make sure she was "saved", her " eternity is at stake".

There are so many things going on with this issue that I almost don't know where to begin.

The first, is that the Braverman clan is non-religious. They're not really anti-religious they're simply secular. Crosby and his wife Jasmine, encourage their son with his religious connection through his grandmother. I love the understanding that has developed within that relationship and how their son is portrayed as having an authentic and child-like faith.

The second, is the thing that I struggled with while watching this episode. It's the notion that infant baptism saves. I am what's called a "paedobaptist", this means, I believe baptism ought to be offered to the children of at least on believing parent. It's part of my covenantal understanding of the Scriptures. However, it does not mean that I believe that the baptized child is "saved". Baptism for the infant points to the child being included in the covenant community. It is a sign of the promises of God to this child through her believing parents.

I struggle with the perception that baptism (of any sort) is useful for salvation. It is a sign of the covenant (either before faith, paedobaptism; or after faith believer's baptism). It is nothing more. Salvation comes by grace through faith. This is something that God alone does. He wills to work it in our lives and transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved son. He does all this because he loves us.

It is one of my sincerest wishes that infant baptism or baptism of any sort saved people. But, it doesn't.

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The Christian Conundrum

One of my favorite television shows is The Big Bang Theory. I find it to be hilarious. The show is well written and as a result makes very interesting cultural critiques through the use of humor.

This past week's episode includes a story about Sheldon seeing his mother having sex. Sheldon's mother is single and a devout, fundamentalist Christian. She is of course a stereotype. Sheldon cannot get over what has happened. But, not for the reasons that you might expect (eww, my mother is having sex!), it is because this activity goes against the religious moral code that Sheldon's mother taught him from a very young age.

At one point Sheldon sitting with his mother says, "It's not the sex Mom, it's the hypocrisy."

After further conversation he says, "Fine, I will accept you on the outside but secretly judge you on the inside." His mother responds, "Now that's the good Christian thing to do."

I almost came unglued.

I am still angry.

I am angry because that's what the world sees out of us as Christians. "I will accept you on the outside but secretly judge you on the inside."

This could be for a few reasons. First, it could be their own guilt and shame being projected on to us. That's very possible and at times likely. Second, it could be an inaccurate assumption. Thirdly, it could be true.

Many people talk about "love the sinner and hate the sin." This translates to "I will accept you on the outside but secretly judge you on the inside." Jesus has called us to love, without condition. We must learn to love as Jesus did, outwardly as well as inwardly.  His love is outstanding. He did not wait around for us to get our act straight. He came to us, pursued us, called us. He loved us first. It was in the context of his love for us that we find out who we truly are and our meaning and purpose.

We must learn to love the same way. What does it mean to love without condition?

Some will say that we are called to live holy and righteous lives, how can we love sinful broken people for who they are? As you read the Gospels it is fascinating to see the response of the people, especially the "sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes", they were drawn to him. Our holiness drives people away.

One of us is doing it wrong, and it's not Jesus.

I do not have a good answer to the question. It's really hard. I can say this though, when I have loved people without condition we have ended up having great conversations about their lives. They have even asked me about those areas of brokenness and what needs to change so they can be closer to God. When that happens, I start with grace...

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. -- Paul, The Apostle from his letter to the Ephesians (Eph 2:8-9)

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Why You Are Here

Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

"Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand-shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

I love the way that Eugene Peterson renders this passage from Matthew 5 in the Message. We're here to bring out the "God-flavors" and "God-colors" and as we are "generous with our lives" we'll prompt "people to open up with God".

What an outstanding life that we've been called to live as followers of Jesus. We get to bring out the beauty of God in the mundane. We get to open our lives to others. So many times when people think about "evangelism" they think about "converting the heathen" but that's not it. We are called to bring out the God-flavors and God-colors in the everyday.

That, I can do.

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The Hall of Fame

Failure.

Failure.

Success.

Failure.

Failure.

Success.

Failure.

Failure.

Success.

Failure.

Failure.

Success.

Hall of Fame.

Baseball.

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Beautiful, Beautiful Grace

On Tuesdays I get together with a group of guys to talk about theology. Yes, we're theology nerds. No, not all of us have beards, although maybe we should. The last couple of weeks we have ventured into some of the finer points of the theological category known as "soteriology". Soteriology is the study of (ology) salvation (soter).

After talking about some of these beautiful doctrines of grace I leave with my heart full and my "affections" aroused as Edwards would say. I drive home, my spirit alive with a sense of worship and gratitude.

One of my favorite passages in all the Scriptures is from Ephesians 1 (I particularly like how it's rendered in the Message by Eugene Peterson):

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

I love that God loved us before we would have ever cared about him. I love that he doesn't sit back and wait for us to get our stuff together or for us to figure out how beautiful he is before he pursues us and draws us to himself. I love that Jesus death on the cross brought about the effect that he wanted it to. He actually accomplished salvation.

And God does all this in spite of the fact that we start out unlovable. He does all of this even though we turn our backs on his loving pursuit. Paul, the guy who wrote that beautiful passage above, also wrote that it is "God's kindness that leads us to repentance." This is outstanding! It is not wrath like in other religions, it is through kindness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA-ZKDOoBnk

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Who's On First?

"When were you saved?"

"I'm not yet."

"You're not a Christian?"

"Of course I am! I follow Jesus, he's my Lord."

"But you said you're not saved. I'm confused..."

"Well, OK, I'm saved already but not yet."

"What the...now I'm really confused, first you're not saved, now you are, but you're not even though you say Jesus is your Lord?"

"Exactly!"

----

Are you confused yet? I think that's the kind of conversation that someone might have had with the Apostle Paul back in the day. The question, "are you saved?" is not very straightforward. When we begin to read the New Testament, we get the sense from Scriptures that we must trust Christ by calling on his name and whoever does this is saved. It's kind of like the Who's On First of theology.

On the other hand we read passages like Philippians 3 and we see Paul talking about hoping "to be saved" or "attaining the resurrection from the dead". We see Paul writing about the "day of our salvation" and that day is somewhere in the future.

So, what's going on here? Many of us were taught that "getting saved" was praying a prayer and then we're saved. Yet, Paul, the Apostle Paul, the guy who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament, makes it sound like he was waiting for the day of his salvation. What in the world is going on here?

On the one hand salvation, is positional. This means our position before God has changed. Paul tells us through Christ God has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son. On the other hand, salvation is experiential. This means when we are saved, we will experience the re-unification we have with God through Christ as a result of his saving us. This won't happen until Christ's return.

This is often called the "already but not yet". Much of our Christian lives fits under this mysterious category. We are already positionally saved, but we do not yet experience the fullness of that salvation. It's like when you buy something from Amazon. The moment you hit the "submit order" button, the item is positionally yours. You have bought it. However, you do not yet get to enjoy the actuality of that item until it arrives into your possession.

Between the resurrection and second coming of Jesus we are in the great not yet. We are in transit. So, we're saved, but we're not yet really saved. While we're in transit we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg

 

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Who Is It All About?

Over the last few weeks I have had a growing sense of the shallowness of the evangelical sub-culture within Christianity. There is report after report of pastors who are plagiarizing, buying their way onto bestseller lists, spending exhorbitant amounts of money to build mansions, and even the manipulation of baptisms. It's vapid.

I keep asking the Lord, "Why?"  Why are these things happening? How do good men get to the place where they are so hungry for power and fame that they must do these kinds of things. Why? Where are the people around them calling them to account and challenging them before they get to this point?

So much of this comes from a broken view of the Church. Many churches, big and small, are "personality cults". That is, the leader is dynamic or has a compelling vision.  As a result, people follow the aura of the person, more than the Word itself.  Or, and this is worse, the leader practices spiritual abuse as an authority figure speaking for God.

This past weekend I was able to be a part of the installations of two pastors. One of the texts that was expounded on was from Acts 20, Paul's interaction with the Ephesian elders at Miletus. What is becoming more and more striking to me about that moment in history is that Paul is speaking to a group of elders as though they were like pastors.

Do not miss this: There was not a "pastor", but a gathering of Ephesian elders. We extrapolate the principles of the passage to the pastor, but the context of Paul's comments was to a community of elders.

I think that we too often overlook the flat leadership of the church that is, at the least, described, if not, prescribed in the Scriptures. What would happen if our communities became more centrally focused on the development of groups of elders (in my tradition this is called a Session) and less focused on the centrality of a "pastor"?

I often think that the Church would be better off if we could authentically move in the direction of a plurality of leadership as opposed to "the man of God preaching to the people of God" kind of model that is so present in the Church today.  Jesus, in fact, modeled plurality of leadership when he bestowed the eldership of the church to His disciples.

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Open Minded?

I see many people who demand open-mindedness. It is an interesting idea, open-mindedness. I find it is similar to the concept of "bi-partisanship" in politics. Every politician is for bi-partisanship until the other party won't do what they want them to.

Today I saw a few people post a meme where some famous folks are sharing their perspective on being open-minded. The interesting part was that being open-minded necessarily excluded a position where someone held to a religion. This bit from Jon Stewart during the election season in 2012 does a nice job illustrating (to be clear you could do this with any party, any religion, or any group of people):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pksug2a3H54

Tolerance and open-mindedness for many folks only counts if you agree with them. Christians do this all the time. We say we love people until we discover that they are one of "those" people.

Have you ever wondered what tolerance means?

tol·er·ance [tol-er-uhns] noun

1.a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.

2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.

3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.

4. the act or capacity of enduring; endurance: My tolerance of noise is limited.

It seems that most do not really understand what this means. The reality is that we do not practice tolerance. We only want people to agree with us. We want people to be tolerant of us, we do not want to be tolerant of other people.

Tolerance has a negative connotation. It's semantic domain includes words like: suffering, endurance, etc. It is not a positive concept. This is why we do not like to tolerate others.

I am realizing more and more that love is better than tolerance. If we will learn to love others and learn to love ourselves then we can enter into relationship with people who are different from us. Here's a little test. Ask yourself this question: Do I want someone to love me or tolerate me?

All of us would rather be loved.

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Know Christ!

There is something beautiful about the installation of a pastor to a congregation. It feels much like a wedding ceremony. The pastor takes vows and so does the congregation. There is a charge and prayers and a message.

It's beautiful.

Then Monday comes.

The pastor is now the servant of the flock and the expectations are high. Everyone is an expert on how to lead churches. External gifts, strengths, and weaknesses will be weighed and judged. The success criteria of comparison to the church down the street is held close at hand. The pastor is so often judged by the externals.

Yet this is not his identity. His identity is in Christ. Consider Paul's words on this Sunday:

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

The good pastor counts all that we consider "success" as lost because his desire is to be found in Christ so that by any means possible he may attain the resurrection of the dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLy8ksqGf9w

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Tram and Sweet Lou

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H0-M0aES5E

This season the Tigers double play combo will feature Jose Iglesias and Ian Kinsler. They will be wearing the numbers 1 and 3, respectively. For someone like me, this means that images of Tram and Sweet Lou flood my mind. As a kid, there was nothing more beautiful than seeing Tram and Sweet Lou turn the double play.  My grandparents took my brother and I to see the Tigers play every spring, and they anchored the infield every game we attended.

May 15th, 1987, I (Allen, Dan's editor) was ten, and it was 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th against the Indians.  Lou was the first batter up, as Tiger Stadium reverberated from the "Looouuu!" chant that greeted him at every at bat.  He took the 0-0 pitch and drilled a walk-off home run.  The stadium erupted!  To this day, is the most electric moment I have experienced at a ball game.

Tram and Lou were the Dynamic Duo of the Motor City; they are arguably the greatest SS-2B combo in the history of baseball. Not to mention the fact they made a guest appearance on Magnum P.I.  (Pop culture put Tom Selleck on the map as a Ferrari driving Hawaiian P.I. who always wore the English D ball cap.)

Yes, you read that right. They were the best in the 80s, and a case can be made for their ranking among the best of the best. They were amazing to watch together. The center of the Tigers infield was locked down. If a man was on first, he was going to be doubled up. This is a huge reason why in 1984 the Tigers started 35-5 and walked to a World Series Championship over Steve Garvey and the San Diego Padres.

And yet, Iglesias and Kinsler will wear 1 and 3.

These guys are good players. But they shouldn't be wearing 1 and 3, like no other pitcher for the Tigers ought to wear 47 (don't even get me started on the travesty that is Jack Morris being skipped over for the Hall of Fame.)  It's time for these numbers to be hung on the wall in the outfield. It's time for a bronze statue of Sweet Lou and Tram to be placed alongside Cobb, Kaline and other legends from the D.

Mr. Illitch, it's time.

Don't wait until they're dead like you did with Sparky.  Follow the Piston's lead and honor your '80's icons.  Let's pay tribute and 'Bless Those Boys.'

I really hope this season with it being the 30th anniversary of the Bless You Boys Championship, that we see 1, 3, and 47 celebrated with their numbers retired as they should have been many years ago.

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We Are Family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMVe_HcyP9Y

Over the last year or so I have been a part of launching the Antioch Movement, a church planting movement in Ypsilanti, MI. It has been an amazing experience. One that I can't really put into words. It's been full of joy, pain, excitement, and anguish. I keep learning everyday about the depth of my own sin and the boundlessness of God's overwhelming grace.

There is one thing that I seem to be more acutely aware of than ever before and that is the reality that the people of God are family. In the institutional church we experienced tastes of this through small groups or through relationships with certain people with whom we had an affinity. It's different now.

The life of my natural family is completely and utterly intertwined with the life of my spiritual family. Our worlds are coming closer and closer together. We babysit for one another, we go out of our way to help one another, the rhythms of our lives are more naturally in tune because we are living together in community. Our kids have similar schedules. We frequent the same places. Our outside of the family friends crossover.

There have been many times in the last number of months that I have looked at people who used to be my friends with a new realization that we are now family. We are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, we are a family that God is knitting together for his glory.

The realization that we are family changes everything about how we interact. It allows us to fight and have disagreements because we're not worried whether someone will leave. We know that we're committed to one another as family. There is a bond that is more than a commitment to an institution. It's a bond that comes from our commitment to mission together. We are family.

 

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Relationships Kept

Relationships are funny things. They come and they go. They are filled with joy and pain. Relationships can be acquaintances, friends, or lovers. We have family that we would rather not talk about and we have friends we wish were family.

When someone becomes a follower of Jesus they become part of a family. In a previous post we explored the importance of covenant theology in our emerging generations. This covenantal experience is not purely an abstract reality of God keeping his promises, it is also the very real experience of us keeping our promises. We do this primarily through relationships.

Throughout the Scriptures we see the twin ideas of covenant and kingdom which play out as relationship and authority [1. I am indebted to the work of Mike Breen and 3DM for their help in developing my thoughts here. Check out his book, Covenant and Kingdom.]. God interacts with us in relationship through his covenant. His promises are kept and they hold true. Through his covenant we are drawn into relationship with him.

We model this as followers of Jesus. We are in relationship with one another and covenantally so. What does this mean? This means that when we commit ourselves to being a follower of Jesus we are also committing ourselves to being a part of his body. Whether we like it or not we are now in a family relationship with people who also call themselves Christian.

To be in community with people we need to realize that conflict is inherent in relationship. If there is no conflict then we cannot move deeper into relationship with one another. Conflict forces us to make a decision: "Do I withdraw and stay where I am?" or "Do I engage and go deeper?" Covenantal relationships require the latter. To be the church demands that we enter in covenantally with our family, the Church, and go deeper. We can be confident in doing this because we are bound through the promise of covenant.

Does this mean that we might get hurt? Yes. Because none of us live this out perfectly. However, if we are following Jesus, then we must follow him into relationship with those he calls his own and who are our brothers and sisters.

Relationships are indeed funny things.

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Values - Multiplication

When I was a kid my dad liked to teach me lessons about business. One of those lessons was about multiplication. He asked me one day, "Would you rather have $2,000 per day or would you rather be paid $.01 and the amount doubles everyday?" Being an impetuous young man I of course stated immediately that I would take the $2,000. Then he informed me that I made the wrong decision.

$.01, $.02, $.04, $.08, $.16, $.32, $.64, $1.28...you do the math. I will spoil it for you, that number is going to get really big, really fast.

This is the exponential curve. When multiplication happens it explodes. It starts slow, but then begins a meteoric rise to infinity.

This is how Jesus began the movement of the church. When you read the gospels you see how he moves from masses to disciples. As his ministry went on the masses received less and less of his attention and his disciples more and more. He spent most of his time with 12 men and a group of women. They lived together and traveled together. He modeled life for them and taught them. Jesus gave to them all of himself. They in turn did the same for the next generation.

The church in the West has lost our sense of discipleship. We have become much more interested in addition. We are satisfied with $2,000 per day. We don't want to wait for that $.01 to become millions. Why? Because we despise the day of small things. When we'r pouring out our lives in 4 or 5 people it doesn't look successful. When we have 300 people at a worship gathering we do look successful.

The thing is, if we would follow the path of Jesus we would see explosive growth. The visible Church in the developing world is multiplying. They don't have the resources to put on the show and market to the masses. They have to begin with their neighbors. They have to pour out their lives into just a handful of people and help those folks do the same. Is it really any surprise that the center of the "Christian World" has shifted? The Church is growing the fastest in the places where they must follow the model of Jesus.

This is the model of multiplication, also known as discipleship.

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Love Your Enemies

On Sunday nights our community is working its way through the Gospel of Luke. The last few weeks we have been wrestling with Luke 6, the second half of the chapter, the red letter part. It contains the beatitudes and woes. It also contains this,

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Today we quote two few verses down, "Judge not, and you will not be judged..." However, we skip the verse above. We don't like it. Not even a little bit.

Thankfully, my friends comprise people who make up all aspects of the spectrum in our culture. I have gay friends and straight friends. I have conservative friends and liberal friends. I have Christian friends and non-Christian friends. My friends cross every color barrier.

As you can imagine my Facebook and Twitter feeds can be a little interesting. The views that are expressed by my friends are about as divergent as you can get. One post will declare the President is a Muslim Anti-Christ and the next will declare the Republican party as Nazis.

One thing I notice is the anger and hatred that both have for the other, yet espousing how people ought love one another and be nice. The caveat by both: As long as you agree with me. 

I am amazed by the hatred and lack of respect spewed out. There are so many half-truths or lies that roll through my social media feeds. Yet, when I sit down with these people they are not hateful or mean. But the words that are posted on their social media site are.

We have lost this sense of loving our enemies. In so doing we are losing our humanity. We are unable to separate our ideas from our person-hood. Our person-hood is lost in our ideas and therefore when our ideas are challenged it is a challenge to our very being.

Sadly, we don't love though. We don't extend love to those who are different from us, at least not in the public spectrum. We return hate with hate and evil with evil. When we do, we lose ourselves a little bit in the process.

I challenge you to look at your Facebook or Twitter stream and ask yourself: If my opponent wrote this about me, would I be angry? Before you post that pejorative and incendiary article or comment, ask yourself: If my opponent did this, how would I respond?

Let us move away from snark, anger, meanness, and hate. Maybe, just maybe, we could love our enemies for a bit and the world just might change.

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Redemption from Exile

There is beauty in broken things that are redeemed. They are transformed and renewed into something beautiful. I love seeing how people take things like old forgotten fields and transform them into life giving gardens. In Isaiah 59 we see how God redeems an exiled people by his own power and his own hand through a beautiful poem.

Take Moment...

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch adders' eggs;
they weave the spider's web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
6 Their webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
no one who treads on them knows peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears;
we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render repayment.
19 So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the Lord drives.

20 And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the Lord.

21 And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring, says the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-VbUQdJy0Y

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The Voice of the Turtle

This week Spring Training began. In Detroit there is only one way by which we celebrate this moment. Ernie Harwell, arguably the greatest baseball announcer in history (Jack Buck and Vin Scully are the other two) would begin every Spring Training with this poem. Its simple beauty points to the simple beauty of the game itself. Enjoy the voice of spring, the very voice of baseball itself.

http://youtu.be/gr0wonW9u1A

 

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